Los Angeles Dodgers manager Don Mattingly heaped plenty of praise on the Mets young trio of Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard and Matt Harvey before his team’s workout Wednesday at Dodger Stadium.
“Those guys are really good,” said Mattingly, the former Yankees star entering his third straight postseason with the Dodgers. “We’ve been looking at them for the last couple of days and even before that… These are some power arms with secondary pitches. They aren’t just guys going up there and chucking the fastball.” (Peter Botte, Daily News)
“Everybody in the league now throws 96-97-98 (mph). We see it all the time. So that’s not what makes them different. It’s the secondary stuff that makes them really good. They’ve got great arms and they’re in a good position, not only now but for the future, with those type of arms. That’s what you build your team around. So we know we have our hands full, but with that being said, we’ll have a game plan for each guy.”
Conversely, the Mets have been heaping some high praise on the Dodgers’ 1-2 punch of Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke and also have a game plan at the ready.
”We all know that they’re both two of the best pitchers in the game,” Michael Cuddyer said during his media session on Tuesday. ”I think it does help to have faced them before. Whether you win or lose, I don’t think that really plays into it. But the fact that you faced them before, the fact that the guys have had at-bats against them, they know the arm angles, they know what the pitches look like, they know the shapes of the pitches. That all helps.”
“I think as deep as we are with our pitching, I don’t think anybody in baseball really has a Kershaw and Greinke,” David Wright said about the Dodgers’ Dynamic Duo. “We’re going to throw out there some good arms against them, but when you look at the back of the baseball card of those two guys, that’s about as good as it gets.”
But the Mets captain also put out his plan of attack to try and overcome the challenge.
“I think that you can’t go in with the game plan of trying to take as many pitches as possible because, again, you’re not going to have much success. I think your best chance is just going up there being prepared.”
Terry Collins countered that his pitching is pretty good too.
”I think we’re going to do just fine. I think we’re going to be able to go out there and play our game,” Collins said. ”I think you’ve got to like the two guys I’m pitching. I know who we’re facing, and I don’t want to say anything, but they’re facing a couple pretty good guys, too.”
And Yoenis Cespedes, well, he ain’t afraid of anything. He’s like Godzilla out for a stroll in downtown Tokyo.
”While I know that this team has faced these pitchers before, I personally haven’t. But they’re pitchers, just like anyone else. They’re going to throw the same pitches.”
Get ready for some big-time epic pitching duels. This is going to be a lot of fun!
